I've decided to go all 'good life' and grow my own veggies. I've dug over an area of grass to make my veggie patch. I've never grown anything before. I was going to add a bit of compost to the soil and then just plant the seeds i've bought and then water. Is it that simple? I suspect it's not and that i have missed out some vital veggie growing components required for success. Any help / tips would be greatly appreciated.
grow your own
- Thread starter kate5303
- Start date
If it's clayey soil harrow up and mix with your compost / old horse poo and this will improve the area for growing. Also I found the putting down some control for slugs helped when I was growing it was frustrating when I started growing my first veggies when the slugs ate all the young plants (they will eat everything!).
Reading blog sites like http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/ really helped me. The woman on there started growing a few years ago and started her blog. So if you search for beetroot then you get all the posts on beetroot and her trials and tribulations with growing them.
Start of small and then start growing some different things in other years. Salad is lovely and easy it can be grown in pots and then cut or picked at when the leaves are young, some lettuce grows big and succulent and make a great gift for family and friends as you'll find during the summer you have loads.
If you can find the dried peas in your local supermarket. Plant a few of these in pots (I just shove loads in) they grow up and you can cut the young plants and they are delicious on salad and grow really easily.
Reading blog sites like http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/ really helped me. The woman on there started growing a few years ago and started her blog. So if you search for beetroot then you get all the posts on beetroot and her trials and tribulations with growing them.
Start of small and then start growing some different things in other years. Salad is lovely and easy it can be grown in pots and then cut or picked at when the leaves are young, some lettuce grows big and succulent and make a great gift for family and friends as you'll find during the summer you have loads.
If you can find the dried peas in your local supermarket. Plant a few of these in pots (I just shove loads in) they grow up and you can cut the young plants and they are delicious on salad and grow really easily.
It really depends on what you are growing, some you have to start off in pots etc and some straight in the ground. Would third the manure, we nave a rotavator that we plough it in with:happy:
Not sure why john innes is in compost, could you google his name for his contact details to give him a quick call to ask?:giggle:
Not sure why john innes is in compost, could you google his name for his contact details to give him a quick call to ask?:giggle:
I only have a very small veg patch, but the thing I learnt in the first year is to stick to growing the things that you actually like to eat!
The first time, I ended up with a great looking veg patch full of bits I didn't actually want, just cos I was seduced by the seed packet!:giggle:
The first time, I ended up with a great looking veg patch full of bits I didn't actually want, just cos I was seduced by the seed packet!:giggle:
Just starting the same thing myself. If you get the current edition of Gardeners world magazine (I think it is an anniversary edition) there is lots of info on growing veggies including what soil they need and how to set up a crop rotation system to increase production and reduce disease.
Good luck xxx
Good luck xxx
Thanks everyone. Feeling a little more confident. Thanks for the link shockblue ... brilliant blog! Off to the garden centre tomorrow to get something to repel slugs and a copy of Gardner's world, then a bit of digging in the afternoon and then a glass of wine to reward myself for all my hard work!! Loving this gardening malarky .... finger's crossed for vegetable success.
I grew a fair bit of Veg in Pots and Baskets last year.
Grew Salad Leaves in Pots, Corquettes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes in
hanging baskets, plus strawberries, its actually quite exciting watching it all come on:redface:
now slopes off, what with finding my new Steam Cleaner exciting and now growing Veg, lol, I am getting 'old' OR Easily Pleased:giggle::bounce:
Grew Salad Leaves in Pots, Corquettes, Spring Onions, Tomatoes in
hanging baskets, plus strawberries, its actually quite exciting watching it all come on:redface:
now slopes off, what with finding my new Steam Cleaner exciting and now growing Veg, lol, I am getting 'old' OR Easily Pleased:giggle::bounce:
Percy Thrower does a good vegetable gardening book. With easy to follow tips and advise. It is easy to get it wrong. I have been gardening for years and am still not very good at it. BUT it is so satisfying to eat a meal with just your veggies and not shop bought. :showoff:
Its not too difficult. lots of horse manure is great but it needs to be well rotted as it can burn plants and also some plants don't like it.
A good site to look at is www.allotment.org.uk they have lots of good advice. Good luck with the veg growing
A good site to look at is www.allotment.org.uk they have lots of good advice. Good luck with the veg growing
I used to be on the Allotment Forum befor ethe horses came and I found I had less time for veg! It's very good and very friendly.
I started some mixed salad at the weekend. Im getting in a salady mood and have salad on all my dinners (I think its the summery weather) and am getting annoyed with spending a fortune on shop bought salad. Last year I ate from my garden all summer.
I also made some little pots from magazine pages that can be transplanted straight into the ground as they melt away when the plant is ready. I planted cucumber, lettuce, sweetcorn and some herbs
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